


Time After Time

by ReaperWriter



Series: CS AU Week [4]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Captain Swan AU Week, Cursed Captain Hook | Killian Jones, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-02
Updated: 2014-07-02
Packaged: 2018-02-07 04:02:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1884567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReaperWriter/pseuds/ReaperWriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Aidan’s…Gran says troubled.  He lost a hand in an accident, same one that killed his fiancé and his brother.  He doesn’t really talk to people, much.  Graham was about the only friend he had.” </p>
<p>Emma meets Aidan O'Connor in Storybrooke shortly after Graham's death.  He wasn't at all what she was expecting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time After Time

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Captain Swan AU Week, Day 4: Cursed!Killian. 
> 
> It's Adam and Eddy's world. The rest of us just play in it.

She didn’t meet him when she first came to town. For all that Storybrooke is small compared to Boston, or Phoenix, or Tallahassee, it has surprising depth. So she was there for a couple of weeks before he ever crossed her path, and the day he did, it was Graham’s funeral and she wasn’t really in her right mind.

She was standing next to Ruby and had just turned to leave the grave when she spotted him. Tall, dark hair and a pale face, standing in the trees watching. His long black leather coat and dark pants helped him blend into the shadows. “Who’s that?” she asked the waitress.

Ruby turned back and followed her gaze. “Oh, that’s Aidan. Aidan O’Connor. He and Graham were fishing buddies.”

Emma felt more than saw the man’s eyes lock on to her, with a sense of blue, sea blue, and then he was gone, faded into the trees. “Why didn’t he come over?”

Ruby shook her head. “Aidan’s…Gran says troubled. He lost a hand in an accident, same one that killed his fiancé and his brother. He doesn’t really talk to people, much. Graham was about the only friend he had.” She glanced at Emma. “He builds boats, or rebuilds them. Lives on a little houseboat down at the docks.”

Emma nodded absently, before letting Ruby lead her off to the diner for the wake.

****

The next time she saw him, she was down by the docks, investigating a complaint that someone had swiped some fishing tackle. She turned a corner onto one of the jetties when her foot slipped and she felt herself start to fall. Panic welled up as she realized she was going to go into the freezing water between a boat and the heavy wood of the jetty.

Suddenly, a pair of arms grabbed her and hauled her backwards. Emma fought the urge to flail as the person righted her footing and then let go, stepping back. “All right, then, love?”

She turned at the gruff voice, finding the man from the funeral. “Yeah, thanks.” He gave her a short nodded, his eyes guarded and sad, and turned to go. “Aidan, right?”

“Aye.” He stopped and looked at her. He was as handsome as her first impression of him, tall and lean built, with messy dark hair and a small scar marring his cheek. She screwed up her courage.

“I’m sorry, about Graham,” she said. “Ruby told me you were close.”

The man didn’t say anything for a moment, and for the first time, Emma noted the hook like pincher where his left hand should be. Then his voice startled her.

“You were with him, when?” He swallowed. “When he died?”

“Yes,” Emma replied, feeling tears prickle her eyes and roughen her voice. Three weeks later, and it still hurt.

“Did he suffer?” She looked at him, his hand coming up to scratch his ear, his eyes avoiding her. She reached out and laid a hand on his arm, just above the prosthetic, and he went still like a startled deer.

“It was…” She stopped as her own voice cracked. “He was gone very quickly.”  
  
They stood for a moment, the shared silent grief lapping at them like waves on the shore. Then, in a soft lilt, “Thank you, lass. It’s good he wasn’t alone.”

Emma let go of his arm and stepped back. “Aidan?” He looked her in the eye. “I know I’m not Graham, but if you ever need someone to talk to.”

The man nodded and turned, heading back to the houseboat at the end of the dock. Emma took a deep breath and continued on her way.

****

Later that afternoon, she sat with Henry in the diner, doing their Operation Cobra check in. As they drank cocoa, she mentioned it. “Hey, so I met Aidan O’Connor at the docks today. He saved me from falling into the bay.”

“Cool!” Henry always lit up when she told him things. She couldn’t understand how someone so open and trusting was her kid. “What’s he like?”

“He’s…I don’t know, he just seems sad.” Emma took another sip, feeling the cinnamon dance on her tongue. “He was close to Graham.”

Henry nodded, then paged through the book. “He’s not in here, but I think I know who he is.”

“Who’s that, kid?” Emma watched as Henry gave her a ‘really?’ look.

“Duh, Captain Hook.”

****

She ran into him again in the grocery store, because it was her turn to shop. She turned the aisle corner and runs right into him, knocking the box of rice from his hand.

“I am so sorry,” she said, stooping to pick it up and hand it to him.

“No harm done, Sheriff.” He took it from her and dropped it in his own basket. His lilting voice reminded her so much of Graham’s, a part of her heart ached. Shaking it off, she was overcome by curiosity and looked into his basket. Potatoes, carrots, onions, three different kinds of beans, celery, bouillon cubes, chicken and beef, canned tomatoes and rice. Apparently Mary Margaret wasn’t the only one in this town who was into home cooking.

“Emma.” The statement made him cock his head in confusion. “You can call me Emma.”

He nodded, and she wondered if people tried talking to him, often. She gave him another minute or two before smiling at him. “Thank you again, for helping me at the docks.”

“You’re welcome…Emma,” he said, rolling the word around on his tongue like he was tasting it. She found herself watching his lips intently, and Jesus, what was wrong with her. He smiled back, then nodded to her and turned.

She watched him walk away, and then returned to her shopping. Twenty or thirty minutes later, she headed up to the check out. The checker, a kid called Lenny, handed her all of her bags. “Oh, and Sheriff, these are yours.” He picked up a bouquet of orange and white mums.

“Oh, no, these aren’t mine,” she said, shaking her head.

Lenny smiled at her oddly. “Nope, they’re yours! Aidan O’Connor left them for you.”

****

She didn’t know who else to talk to. Mary Margaret was sitting in a cell, charged with murder. Kathryn Nolan was dead, David was basically worthless. And God, she could not, would not, have this conversation with Henry.

She found his boat pretty easily, at the far end of pier. The lights were on, so she walked up to the edge of the dock. What on earth was the etiquette on a houseboat? “Aidan?”

She saw movement past the windows, then the door into the boat opened, and his head came out. “Emma?”

“I’m sorry to bother you,” she said, and she hated, HATED the panic in her voice. “I couldn’t think who else to go to.”

“I’d despair if you did.” He stepped forward and reached out a hand, helping her on board and leading her through the door. He nodded toward the bench seat and turned, digging around in the cabinet and coming up with a bottle of rum and two glasses.   Pouring them both a healthy drink, he handed her a glass.

“Thank you.” She took a swig, feeling the burn on its way down.

“What’s going on, love?” Aidan sat down across from her on a stool. “How can I help?”

And the words rushed out of her. She told him the story from the beginning, about how Henry had appeared on her birthday, about coming to town and seeing how Regina was with him, about not being able to leave. About how Mary Margaret had offered her friendship and support, how Graham had given her work and how he had…well. She told him about David Nolan waking up and the fraught thing with him and Mary Margaret and Kathryn. And she told him about Ruby finding the box.

“I know she didn’t do it,” she said, almost an hour later. “My gut tells me she’s innocent, but I have no idea how to prove it.”

Aidan was quiet for a moment, pouring her another drink. “You need to keep working the case. And trust your gut, lass. If it tells you she’s innocent, she is, and the truth will out.”

“How can you be so sure?” His faith in her, the surety in his voice was astounding.

“Well, Swan,” he replied, drinking from his own glass. “I’ve yet to see you fail.”

****

She was sitting back in the Sheriff’s office after the ordeal with Jefferson when he walked in. “Aidan?”

Suddenly, she was on her feet pulled into a hug. “Thank bloody God,” he breathed, pressing his face to her neck.

“What the hell, Aidan?” she asked, her tone soft. He eased his hold but didn’t let go all the way.

“It just felt like something was…are you all right?” He was looking at her, and the look in his blue eyes was enough to take her breath away.

“There was…yeah, I’m okay.” She tried to get her breathing to slow down. “And you just had a feeling?”

“I was out, testing the patch on a boat I just repaired the hull of.” His good hand came up, and for just a second, she thought he was going to touch her face. Then he pulled away abruptly. “I came back as fast as I could, but the seas are a little rough today.”

They looked at each other for a long moment before he turned, as if to go. “Aidan?”

“Yes, Swan?” He turned back to her.

“You could stay, and be a part of something. Come get dinner from the diner with me, and bring it back to Mary Margaret.” She nodded over to the woman sleeping in the cell at the other end of the room. “It would be better than being alone.”

He smiled, a genuine, pleased smile, and she felt her heart constrict. “Aye, lass. I’d like that.”

****

He ate lunch the next day with her and Henry, then after they went to the park and played catch for hours. He was surprisingly good at it, for only having one hand.

****

He showed up at the hospital as they were wheeling Henry in. “Lass, what happened?”

“I can’t…I’m going to kill her.” She was shaking. Shaking so badly she could hardly stand up. And then his arms went around her, anchoring and grounding her. “Regina. Regina did this.”

A look flashed in his eyes, then, a dark, frightening look, and Emma was briefly afraid, until she realized she wasn’t the target of that look. Aidan was enraged for her son, and at the person who had hurt him.

“He’ll be all right,” he said, and she felt calmer. Aidan pressed a kiss to the top of her head, and then released her. “I know he will.”

Just then, Regina came around the corner, and Aidan rounded on her. The mayor shrunk from him, and Emma grabbed his arm. “No. She’s mine.”

Aidan looked at her, and then took a step back. “As you wish.”

****

He’s stood against the back wall of the room, on guard, when she got back, but there were tears in his eyes. No. No, no, no. “I’m so sorry, Emma.”

And so she had done the only thing she could do. She walked up to Henry’s body, and crying, she whispered, “I love you.” Then she pressed a kiss to his forehead, so like the one Aidan had given her earlier.

The whoosh of magic through the room and out of the building felt like a shock wave, and she stood back, in wonder as Henry looked at her and smiled.

“Bloody hell, Swan! You did it!” She turned to find Aidan looking at her and then around the room in shock.

“Aidan?” she asked. He shook his head, and a smile that wasn’t the one she knew came over his face, making him look even more handsome, but also dangerous.

“No, love. Well, yes, but my name, my real name is Killian. Killian Jones, though you may know me by my more colorful moniker.” And he held up his left arm.

“I knew it!” Henry called from his bed, laughing. Emma continued to stare at the man in shock.

After a moment, she saw a dark look cross his face and seem to take root there. “If you’ll excuse me, Swan, I have some unfinished business to attend to.” He turned and strode from the room.

“Henry, wait here,” she said, then ran after him. “Aid…Killian, wait!”

He turned to look at her, and for just a second, the Aidan O’Connor who bought her flowers and listened to her problems was there, warring in his eyes with someone else entirely.

“Where are you going?” she asked, a little breathless. This was all still so insane.

“To find Rumplestiltskin,” he said, darkly. “The bloody crocodile.” She could see the pain in his eyes, and then suddenly, it all made sense.

“He took your hand.” It wasn’t a question; she just knew, the same way he had known she was in danger that day with Jefferson.

“And more,” he growled. “Milah wasn’t my fiancé here, and she didn’t die in a bloody car crash. She was his wife, but she couldn’t stand him. She ran away with me, and we were happy. And then he came, and used his magic. Lashed me to the mast of my ship, and then ripped her heart out, right in front of me, and crushed it. She died in my arms, Swan. Just like Graham died in yours.”

She felt like someone had hit her hard in the chest, the air freezing in her lungs. God, what the hell was her life?

“So I am going to find him, Swan. Find him and kill him, while he’s powerless.”

“Ai…Killian, please. Even if he deserves it, that’s murder. You can’t.” She grabbed his hand, and shock was writ large over his face. “Revenge won’t solve this. But there are people who care about you. Henry and I, we care. Please.”

“Emma,” he said, his voice a hoarse whisper. “He’ll come after everything I love. You and the boy.”

“You…love us? Me?” Her voice was shaking, now, because this was too much.

“Aye,” he said. His eyes were on hers and his left hand came up, wanting to touch her face. “But without his powers, he’s vulnerable. I have to do this now before it’s…”

Emma could see over his shoulder, the purple cloud through the windows. “Too late.”

He whirled around and saw it. Together, they looked at each other. “Henry.”

Running back to his room, Emma grabbed her son in a hug as Killian Jones wrapped his arms around both of them, just before the purple cloud hit the building.


End file.
